LEICHHARDTIAN Iredale & Whitley 1938

Iredale & Whitley’s (1938) description and depiction of this region are contradictory. In the text (p. 65) Iredale & Whitley state: “The LEICHHARDTIAN FLUVIFAUNULA is that inhabiting the rivers of the Northern Territory, from Port Essington eastwards, and Queensland, west of Torres Straits. This extends northwards to take in the river faunulae of Southern New Guinea.” In contrast, their map shows only northwestern Australia in the Australian portion of the Region, including only the Kimberleys to the western portion of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The remainder of the Gulf of Carpentaria is assigned to their Sturtian Fluvifauna, and the whole of the Cape York Peninsula is grouped with the eastern coastal drainages of Queensland under their Jardinean Fluvifauna. The definition here essentially matches that of Whitley (1959), but as modified by McMichael & Hiscock (1958) to exclude New Guinea portion (which they newly named the Riechian Fluvifaunula). As such, the Leichhardtian Region extends Iredale and Whitley’s (1938) text description southward to include the Kimberleys, and their map depiction eastward to include the Gulf of Carpentaria drainages on the Cape York Peninsula. In contrast to this definition, Iredale (1943) noted the discrepancies in Iredale & Whitley (1938) but corrected the Greyian Fluvifaunula to include the Kimberleys.